International General Certificate in Occupational ... - NEBOSH

The National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) Dominus Way, Meridian Business Park, Leicester LE19 1QW

Tel: +44 (0) 116 263 4700 Fax: +44 (0) 116 282 4000 Email: [email protected] www.nebosh.org.uk

Version: 3 Specification date: October 2018 Publication date: February 2021

Registered Charity Number: 1010444

© NEBOSH. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, mechanical, photocopied or otherwise, without the express permission in writing from NEBOSH.

International General Certificate in Occupational Health and SafetyQualification guide for learners

NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety 2

Contents Qualification overview

Qualification key features 4

Who is the qualification designed for? 5

Benefits for you 5

Benefits for your employer 5

Professional membership 6

Syllabus development and review 6

Achieving the qualification 7

Re-sitting unit(s) 7

Re-sitting IG1 to improve your grade 8

Finding where to study 8

Qualification grading and issue of qualification parchment 9

Syllabus

Syllabus summary 11

Learning outcomes and assessment criteria 12

Qualification overview


Unit prefixes and title/s

Unit IG1: Management of health and safety

Unit IG2: Risk assessment

Assessment

Unit IG1

Unit IG2

Assessment Type

Open book examination (OBE)Practical assessment

Assessment Time

4 hours

3 hours

Modes of study

A full-time block release course (minimum of two weeks, ten working days)

Part-time day release (spread over at least ten weeks)

Open or distance learning

Qualification level and number of credits

SCQF Level 6 (Equivalent to RQF Level 3)

Unit IG1: 5 credits, Unit IG2: 6 credits

Entry requirements None

Recommended minimum standards of English

Equivalent to an International English Language Testing System score of 6.0 or higher in IELTS tests

Languages available

English, Arabic, French, Portuguese (European), Russian, Spanish (European) and Turkish

Note: Open book examinations in languages other than English cannot be taken in the UK

Qualification grades

The qualification grade is based on the result from Unit IG1

Distinction: 75 marks or higher

Credit: 65 - 74 marks

Pass: 45 - 64 marks

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Who is the qualification designed for?

This qualification is designed for anyone (managers, supervisors and workers) in any type of organisation. It’s ideal for anyone who needs a broad understanding of health and safety issues to be able to manage day-to-day risks effectively. Many people take the International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety (IGC) as a first step in a career in health and safety. It gives a valuable overview, and is a sound basis for further professional study.

Benefits for you

The IGC looks at everyday solutions for general workplace health and safety issues. When you have completed the qualification, you will be able to:

• justify the need for health and safety improvements;

• advise on duties for health and safety in the workplace;

• help your organisation to manage contractors;

• work within a health and safety management system;

• positively influence health and safety culture and behaviour;

• carry out a general risk assessment (using a 5-step approach) of your workplace;

• recognise workplace changes and their impacts and understand how to minimise these impacts;

• develop basic safe systems of work that include emergency arrangements and know when to use a permit-to-work system;

• take part in incident investigations; and

• help your employer check the effectiveness of their health and safety management system through monitoring, auditing and review.

Benefits for your employer

When you achieve the IGC, you will be a huge asset to your employer. You will make a real difference in the workplace. You will have the knowledge, understanding and skills to help protect the health and safety of all workers. You will also be able help your employer to comply with the law and good practice, as well as help them avoid the huge costs from incidents and ill-health.



Professional membership

Once you have your qualification parchment for the IGC, you can apply for the following memberships.

Membership body Membership category

Designatory letters

International Institute of Risk and Safety Management

Associate AIIRSM

Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH)

Associate AIOSH

Technical Tech IOSH

Syllabus development and review

We developed the syllabus following wide consultation with key stakeholders: Learning Partners (the companies that deliver your training), employers, trade unions, standards-setting organisations, past and present learners and subject experts. We are especially grateful to the following contributors:

• Qatar Steel;

• The FA Group;

• Travis Perkins;

• UAE Ministry of Education; and

• Unite the Union.

How a rising star of safety is improving lives in Kenya

David Ongesa grew up in a small village in Homabay County within the western region of Kenya. After completing an Environmental Science degree David secured a Health and Safety Officer position. To help him in his new role, he wanted to gain more health and safety knowledge and chose to complete the NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety.

After passing this qualification David implemented what he had learned in his workplace. “I began by engaging with leadership at work, explaining how we should approach the management of occupational safety and health. They bought into my ideas and within 12 months we had reduced lost-time injuries (LTI) by a record 75%.”

David shared his experience and achievements at several conferences and his reputation began to grow. He found a new role with his current employers ARM Cement PLC. In his first year with the company LTIs fell from 13 to just five, a significant achievement in what is a high-risk industry. David’s salary has more than doubled since he passed his NEBOSH Certificate, so his self-investment was certainly worthwhile.



Achieving the qualification

The IGC has two unit assessments; you must achieve a ‘Pass’ in each unit to be awarded the qualification.

You will have five years to complete your qualification. The five-year period starts from the date you passed your first successful unit (we call this the ‘declaration date’). Any unit that is five or more years old will not count towards the qualification and you will need to retake this/these unit(s) if you still want to complete the qualification.

Re-sitting unit(s)

You may re-sit a unit assessment if:

• you achieved a ‘Pass’ in a unit that is five or more years old and you need it to achieve the qualification;

• you are ‘Referred’ (ie, don’t pass); or

• want to retake Unit IG1 to get a higher grade (Unit IG2 is ‘Pass’ or ‘Refer’ and does not count towards the qualification grade).

There is no limit to the number of times you can re-sit unit(s) within the five-year period. A refund will not be given if you register to re-sit a unit before an original unit result is known. If your re-sit result is lower than the original mark, you will keep the original mark awarded for the unit. Re-sit marks are not capped.



Re-sitting IG1 to improve your grade

If you want to try to improve your grade in Unit IG1, you need to tell us in writing within 20 working days of the declaration date of your second successful unit. Otherwise, a qualification parchment will automatically be issued showing the original declaration date.

Finding where to study

You can search for Learning Partners (the people that provide your training course) using the ‘Where to study’ tab on our website: www.nebosh.org Note: it is best to check directly with the Learning Partner for up-to-date information on course dates.


What if your life is ‘all at sea’?

Sooraj Jacob from Kerala in India is a second officer for Maersk Line, which is the world’s largest container shipping business. One aspect of his position that he really enjoys is health and safety. It forms a significant part of his responsibilities as he also covers the role of HSE Officer on board. Sooraj therefore wanted to take a health and safety qualification to help him excel in this aspect of his role.

“When I did my research, the name NEBOSH kept coming up, so I decided to take the NEBOSH International General Certificate. It has given me great insight into not just the technical aspects, but also the whole management side of things. During my studies I came across people from other industries, who helped me realise it doesn’t matter which industry you work in, the root causes of accidents and the ways to manage and control risks are often the same. I now see NEBOSH as a bridge in terms of my career. This qualification gives me a good entry point for a health and safety specific career and has opened up my options for working onshore too.”


Qualification grading and issue of qualification parchment

Your qualification grade is based only on the result from the question paper (Unit IG1). But you need to achieve a ‘Pass’ in both units (Unit IG1 and IG2) before the parchment can be issued. The grading boundaries are as follows:

When you have completed both units, you are normally considered to have completed the whole qualification. We will then send you a qualification parchment within 40 working days of your final successful unit. We will only issue individual Unit certificates on written request.

Once we issue the result of the second successful unit, you have 20 working days to either:

• tell us in writing that you want to re-sit a successful unit to improve your grade (see ‘Re-sitting unit(s)’ for further information); or

• submit an Enquiry About Result (EAR) request; please see the EAR policy for further information: www.nebosh.org.uk/policies-and-procedures/enquiries-about-results-ears


75+

Distinction

65-7

4Credit

45-6

4

Pass

0-44 Refer

Syllabus


Element Assessment

1 Why we should manage workplace health and safety

Open book examination (OBE)

Unit IG1: Management of health and safety

Elements 1.1, 1.2 and 3.4are also assessed by the practical assessment

(Unit IG2)

2 How health and safety management systems work and what they look like

3 Managing risk – understanding people and processes

4 Health and safety monitoring and measuring

5 Physical and psychological health

Practical assessment

Unit IG2: Risk assessment

6 Musculoskeletal health

7 Chemical and biological agents

8 General workplace issues

9 Work equipment

10 Fire

11 Electricity

Syllabus summary

Syllabus


Learning outcome The learner will be able to:

Related content

Assessment criteria Assessment

Justify health and safety improvements using moral, financial and legal arguments

1.1–1.2 Discuss the moral, financial and legal reasons for managing health and safety in the workplace

Explain how health and safety is regulated and the consequences of non-compliance

OBE, practical

Advise on the main duties for health and safety in the workplace and help their organisation manage contractors

1.3 Summarise the main health and safety duties of different groups of people at work

and

Explain how contractors should be selected, monitored and managed

OBE

Work within a health and safety management system, recognising what effective policy, organisational responsibilities and arrangements should look like

2.1–2.2 Give an overview of the elements of a health and safety management system and the benefits of having a formal/certified system

Discuss the main ingredients of health and safety management systems that make it effective – policy, responsibilities, arrangements

OBE

Positively influence health and safety culture and behaviour to improve performance in their organisation

3.1–3.3 Describe the concept of health and safety culture and how it influences performance

Summarise how health and safety culture at work can be improved

Summarise the human factors which positively or negatively influence behaviour at work in a way that can affect health and safety

OBE

SyllabusLearning outcomes and assessment criteria



Related content


Do a general risk assessment in their own workplace – profiling and prioritising risks, inspecting the workplace, recognising a range of common hazards, evaluating risks (taking account of current controls), recommending further control measures, planning actions

1.1

1.2

3.4

5–11

Explain the principles of the risk assessment process

and

Produce a risk assessment of a workplace which considers a wide range of identified hazards (drawn from elements 5 – 11) and meets best practice standards (‘suitable and sufficient’)

OBE, practical

Recognise workplace changes that have significant health and safety impacts and effective ways to minimise those impacts

3.5 Discuss typical workplace changes that have significant health and safety impacts and ways to minimise those impacts

OBE

Develop basic safe systems of work (including taking account of typical emergencies) and knowing when to use permit-to-work systems for special risks

3.6–3.8 Describe what to consider when developing and implementing a safe system of work for general activities

Explain the role, function and operation of a permit-to-work system

Discuss typical emergency procedures (including training and testing) and how to decide what level of first aid is needed in the workplace

OBE

Syllabus



Related content


Take part in incident investigations

4.2 Explain why and how incidents should be investigated, recorded and reported

OBE

Help their employer to check their management system effectiveness – through monitoring, audits and reviews

4.1, 4.3, 4.4

Discuss common methods and indicators used to monitor the effectiveness of management systems

Explain what an audit is and why and how it is used to evaluate a management system

Explain why and how regular reviews of health and safety performance are needed

OBE

Syllabus

Documents

International General Certificate in Occupational ... - NEBOSH